"I used to believe in specialization. I told myself I was a 'science person,' not a 'math person' or an 'art person.' It was a story I sold myself for safety. But safety is a gilded cage, and the soul eventually rattles the bars."
The Glitch in the Simulation
My story started on the pre-med track at UC Irvine, deep in the elegant logic of neurobiology. A quiet dissonance hummed beneath the surface. I felt like a ghost in my own machine, executing a flawless script someone else had written. The truth was, I was terrified of the blank page—of both code and canvas. I ran from the perceived chaos of creation, finding refuge in the familiar.
The awakening wasn't gradual; it was a glitch in the matrix. A psychedelic realization that the neural networks I studied were just nature's code. The sci-fi films I binged weren't just escapism; they were blueprints. The cascading synths in electronic music weren't just sounds; they were architecture. A switch flipped. The fear of the blank page was replaced by an obsessive need to fill it.
"Creativity is not a department. It's the native OS of the human mind. My work is simply building the apps for it."
Learning to Speak 'Machine' and 'Human'
That fear drove me to the fader boards of Hyde Street Studios and the bare stages of the American Conservatory Theater. These weren't hobbies; they were necessary data points. At Hyde Street, working with legends under Trent Berry, I learned a kick drum isn't just a frequency—it's a heartbeat. At A.C.T., under Baily Hopkins, I learned a character isn't just dialogue—it's a fragile, breathing system of wants and fears.
The Synthesis: A Feedback Loop
My life is now a feedback loop. The empathy required to embody a character informs the UX of the apps I build. The precision of mixing a track mirrors the rigor of designing scalable AI systems. The world-building of a screenplay sparks ideas for new virtual worlds. This path isn't for efficiency. It's for potency. A stubborn refusal to live a specialized life in a universe that is anything but. My ventures are instruments in a larger orchestra, playing the same symphony, aiming for a blaze of glory that leaves behind stories worth telling.